Summary of 2 Timothy, Chapter 2

Paul begs Timothy to be strong in the grace of Christ, and to commend to other faithful men the things he has heard from Paul, so they in turn may be able to teach still others. He should be willing to endure evil like a good soldier of Christ. When one is on a military campaign, he does not involve himself in ordinary business -- he wants to please the commander. Similarly, if one competes in an athletic contest, he cannot win the crown unless he competes according to the rules of the game. And the farmer who labors should be the first to share in the fruits. Paul urges him to understand, and promises the Lord will give him the needed understanding.

He should remember that Jesus, of the line of David, was raised from the dead, as Paul preaches. For this Paul suffers evil, even to being in chains as if he were a worker of evil. But the word of God is not bound. Hence Paul patiently bears everything for the sake of the elect, so they too may attain the final salvation that is in Christ, with eternal glory. The teaching is dependable: [namely] If we have suffered with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure patiently, we will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He too will deny us on the day of judgment. But if we are unfaithful to our commitment, He will still keep his covenant, for He cannot deny Himself.

Timothy should keep on reminding people of these things and charge them before God not to get into wordy disputes, which are useless, and tend to the ruin of those who hear them. Rather, he should aim to make himself worthy of God's approval, a worker that is not ashamed, following a direct course on the word of truth. He should avoid wordy emptiness, for it tends to more impiety, and their talk will spread like gangrene. It is of this sort that Hymenaeus and Philetus are. They have left the truth, and say that the resurrection has already taken place. They subvert the faith of some. But the solid foundation of God holds, and has this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are His," and: "Let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."

In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also some of wood and of clay -- some for honor, some for dishonor. Those who cleanse themselves from such errors will be honorable vessels, sanctified, well-useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Timothy should avoid youthful passions, and instead pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart. He should avoid foolish discussions and those that do not help spiritually, knowing that they beget strife. The servant of the Lord should not be quarrelsome, but meek to all,ready to teach, patient, in meekness teaching those who oppose. Perhaps God may give them repentance, so as to know the truth and escape the snare of the devil which captured them, to do his will.

Comments on Chapter 2

We note especially in verse 2 how Paul makes provision for oral transmission of the faith -- Our Lord never told the Apostles: "Write some books -- get copies made -- pass them out -- tell the people to figure them out for themselves."

This would be real folly. Yet that is what Protestantism supposes.

Paul seems to know his end is near, he is glad to suffer for Christ, and he urges Timothy to be prepared to do so too. He says he will suffer for other Christians. This is the same thought as that we saw in Colossians 1:24: one member of Christ can make up for the failure of others to make reparation for their own sins, to rebalance the objective order. He restates a grand theme of his compactly: If we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him. We saw this in Romans 8:17 too.

When Paul says that Christ remains faithful even if we are not faithful, He does not mean that we can sin, and He will still send us to Heaven. No, Pauline faith, as we saw before, includes the obedience that is faith (Rom 1:5). Faith which includes obedience cannot be the way to excuse disobedience as Luther held in writing to Melanchthon in Epistle 501: "Sin bravely but believe still more bravely." And in another Epistle to Melanchthon of August 1, 1521: ". . . you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. . . . as long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day."⁴

Paul warns again about the false teachers and even mentions two of them by name (we saw Hymenaeus in 1 Timothy 1:20 -- we know nothing of Philetus), who hold the resurrection has already taken place. They seem to mean only a mystical resurrection, in baptism, and deny a physical resurrection at the end of time. So many Greeks, especially Platonists, disliked the idea of a physical resurrection, as Paul found out on the Areopagus in Athens. They wanted eventually to escape reincarnation.

The first of the two sayings on the foundation of God in verse 19 comes basically from Numbers 16:5. The second is suggested by expressions found in Isaiah 52:11; Numbers 16:26. The thought is an exhortation to sound doctrine. The comparison of the various vessels in a large house can stand for good and bad Christians, of various degrees.

Verse 26 seems to mean that after being freed from the nets of the devil, the Christian can do God's will.